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House of Chains/Chapter 9
G'danisban Kalam Mekhar is in a shop that sells weapons, decks and other items, many clearly looted from tombs. The shopkeeper tells Kalam about the changes to the Deck of Dragons, including the unaligned card and rise of the House of Chains. The old man shows Kalam several knives, one alloyed with Otataral and another invested with Elder magic and a stamp Kalam recognizes. He buys the knives with diamonds he received from Cotillion. Before he leaves the shopkeeper tells Kalam about a group of Malazans in a nearby fortress under siege. B'ridys Kalam arrives at the besieging camp by mid-morning, noting that they appear to be preparing for an assault on the fort and says he wants to join them. The besiegers are mostly former Malazan soldiers from Seven Cities. He approaches the commanding Lieutenant who identifies himself as Captain Irriz. The self-promoted Captain tells Kalam that a mage, Sinn, has just arrived who says she can blow a hole in the fortress and end the siege with one last assault, which will commence at first light. When Kalam asks who commands the besieged Malazans, he is told it is Captain Kindly. Kalam wakes up in the middle of the night and sneaks toward the fortress. He sees Sinn at the base of the fortifications using sorcery. She notices his approach when his otataral blade interferes with her magic. They both realize that neither is on the side of the besiegers and plan on helping the Malazans in the fortress. Sinn tells him that she has already taken care of Irriz and his soldiers by poisoning the water with Tralb, thinking it would only incapacitate them. Kalam asks how much she used and realizes that it is enough to kill anyone who drank horribly. Fortunately, only three guards had drank the poisoned water, and Kalam leaves Sinn for a moment to kill them mercifully. Some Malazans from the fortress descend the wall with ropes, and Kalam realizes they were being watched. He notices the besieged Malazans do not look starved or parched. They inform Kalam that they can leave anytime they want via tunnels, but have nowhere to go, as the entire land is out for Malazan blood. Kalam agrees to accompany the Malazans into the fortress with Sinn. Before he joins them, he pulls out one of the diamonds Cotillion gave him and blows on it like a whistle to summon an Azalan demon. He instructs the demon to retrieve Irriz alive and join him at the rope. Kalam starts to climb the rope and hears screams in the camp behind him, each one ended with a "strange mangled squeal." He is passed climbing the wall by the demon carrying Irriz. Kalam then tells the Malazans his real name, which silences them. They introduce themselves as Sergeant Cord, Bell and Corporal Shard who is Sinn's half-brother. Kalam asks about Kindly, only to be informed that he and a lieutenant were lost when they both fell down a well and drowned or were swept away by an underground river. Cord and Kalam share a few tense words about who is in charge of the Malazans, and Kalam agrees to follow Cord's orders, "unless they happen to be idiotic." Drift Avalii Cutter and Apsalar approach the moving island as a storm approaches. Trying to land, their boat crashes, Cutter gets pulled under by a strong current that leads to an underground pool. He's too weak to pull himself out of the pool, but he is pulled out by an old Tiste Andii named Darist. Cutter asks about Apsalar and Darist tells him she did not enter the pool and probably drowned. Darist tells Cutter that the island is under attack from a group of Tiste Edur, who are intent on capturing the island and taking the Throne of Shadow for themselves. Cutter asks again if Darist can sense Apsalar, but Darist replies that he can only sense the Tiste Edur who will soon find them. The Nascent Onrack tells Trull he can hear "howls of rage" coming from the spirits trapped inside the two statues. They assume them to be two of the Hounds of Shadow, as the statues do not cast shadows. Onrack bemoans that there are only five Hounds of Shadow left as it decreases his chances of killing one but Trull doubts his ability to walk away from such an encounter. Onrack breaks one of the pillars, and it explodes, quickly followed by the second one. The two Hounds attack and quickly overpower Onrack, tearing his left arm away from his body before departing together. Trull stands over a motionless Onrack and says, "Those were not the Hounds of Shadow. They were the real ones. The Hounds of Darkness," and voices concern for what they had just unleashed. As a consequence of being so badly damaged in the attack Onrack is now shorn from the Ritual. Onrack describes to Trull what his kin would do to complete the rites deemed necessary for someone who is shorn. It would include cutting off his head and finding a suitable place so that he might look out upon eternity, dismembering his corpse and scattering the limbs and returning his sword to his place of birth. But since Trull can't do any of that Onrack, must continue on. Onrack laments that his existence is now meaningless. They walk through the city and reach a bridge where they find a box of Moranth munitions amongst the floatsam. They head toward an arch, the portal they have been seeking. It is emitting a lot of heat, and they assume it must be a ward. Thinking munition might shatter that ward, Onrank throws one and it breaks the ward, revealing a warren. Onrack tells Trull to flee, as he can feel the power of the ones on the other side of the gate, a power brutal and alien. Trull runs across the bridge with Onrack staying behind, prepared to buy him some time to allow his escape. Four riders on white horses, Jorrude, Enias, Orenas and Malachar, come through the gate, tall, pale, wearing enamel armor, wielding curved scimitars. They ride down Onrack, who wounds one of them but not before having his face smashed. The four wheel around to face him and identify Onrack as a servant of Death, who must be annihilated. The one Onrack wounded, called Seneschal Jorrude by the others, interrupts and tells his companion, Enias, that Onrack is not one of the trespassers they seek. Through brief conversation, Onrack deduces that these four are Tiste Liosan. Jorrude grows impatient and tells Onrack if he does not give them the answers they seek they will destroy him, and they all draw swords. Before they fight, Trull appears, surrounded by four T'lan Imass, two of whom Onrack identifies as Monok Ochem and Ibra Gholan. Monok says Onrack has failed the ritual and needs to be destroyed, but Onrack tells him that privilege will be contested as the Liosan claim him as their prisoner. Jorrude says the Liosan are happy to hand over Onrack and that they have no quarrel with the Imass. He then invites Trull to join them, saying they are in need of a servant. Trull declines and suggests they rotate the role amongst them. The Liosan plan on departing, but Monok says it will be difficult as the warren is a shattered fragment of Kurald Emurlahn and that the Liosans have been isolated too long and know nothing of other realms and nothing of the Ascendants and their wars. Monok suggests they all work together in a ritual to make a gate, using Tellann, Liosan and the Edur blood. 09